Okay, let's try this: Mango Languages?

[Jenny in Florida]

Our county library offers Mango Languages for free online. My son (who is looking to dump Spanish and try something new) really likes the look and feel of their Italian course.

 

Can anyone tell me, approximately, what they equivalent would be in high school study years if he were to finish their "Complete 2.0" course? In other words, would that be roughly equivalent to one year at the high school level or two?

 

I've found a few places online that suggest it would be two years of high school/one year of college level learning, which would be perfect. But I wanted to touch base here and see if anyone has comments?

 

I already know that we would need to supplement with additional grammar, of course.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I looked at it through our library. I looked at Japanese because that is the language that I know. A couple of thoughts - in Japanese, at least, it assumed that you could read the language right away. You simply listen and repeat sentences. I compared the end of 2.0 with the SAT subject test in Japanese. The subject test seemed to have more difficult language problems to me. I wish that I could find a specific outline of what constitutes the skills necessary for 1st year high school credit and what is necessary for 2nd year high school credit. Does anyone know if something like this exists?

[Beth S]

Link to recent discussion re: Mango:

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/showthread.php?t=418322

[Jenny in Florida]

Link to recent discussion re: Mango:

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/showthread.php?t=418322

 

Thank you, Beth! I had missed that thread completely.

 

Here's what I'm thinking: My son is convinced he hates studying foreign languages and that he just isn't good at it. At this point, if he's willing to do Mango and take it seriously while feeling good about it, that is clearly better than the nothing we're accomplishing otherwise.

 

I think we're going to dive in this week and give it a go. He poked around doing the first lessons of several languages and ultimately decided Italian looks like the most fun. (One of his buddies is doing Italian in school. They might enjoy being able to chat, I hope.) I'll plan for him to do the first half of the course, through lesson 50, this year and the second half next year.

 

Tomorrow while we're blowing time after we drop my daughter and work and before my son's dance class starts, we'll hit Barnes and Noble and I'll have him chose a grammar or self-teaching book to work through alongside Mango.

 

I've already told him that my Italian is non-existent. So, I'll try to get through the course a little ahead of him and make myself available to help.

 

And then we'll hope for the best.

 

Thanks again.

[Jenny in Florida]

I wish that I could find a specific outline of what constitutes the skills necessary for 1st year high school credit and what is necessary for 2nd year high school credit. Does anyone know if something like this exists?

 

I went looking for this today, too. Apparently, there are some organizations of foreign language teachers that have published standards. However, I didn't have any luck finding specifics.

 

What I did find was a few syllabi for first-year high school Italian courses that listed the learning objectives of each unit. I've printed those and plan to keep them on hand to check as we move through Mango and whatever supplement my son chooses. That way, I'll have some peace of mind that we're covering the bases.